Bipartisanship to Upgrade our Infrastructure?

This week, Senators Kerry, Warner, Hutchison, and Graham came together to announce their proposal to rebuild America’s infrastructure. The Building and Upgrading Infrastructure for Long-Term Development (BUILD) Act, S. 652, would establish an American Infrastructure Financing Authority – a type of infrastructure bank that would provide loans and loan guarantees. Transportation, Water, and Energy infrastructure projects greater than $100 million and of national or regional significance would be eligible.

$10 billion would be required to get the bank going, but it would be designed to require no ongoing taxpayer funding, based on its partnership with the private sector (the bank could never provide more than half the funding for a project) and its authorization to charge fees and interest rate premiums.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO have both come out in favor of the bill. NEMA will be evaluating the bill’s potential impact on the electric grid.